POLL: What is your favorite substrate?

Okay, I'm taking a poll of substrates... Dear Moderators, please don't kill me for double posting ;)

I tried to put as many options as possible

Don't see a poll here either :(

YES! DID IT! Do you guys see it now :)?

Sorry, I'm horrible with computers, so any victory is big to me, ha ha :D :snake:

There it is :) I use newspaper with paper towels on top of that to make the tubs look more tidy and nice (easier to see messes and/or possible mites with too). My display corn who's in a tank has aspen for him to hide in.

I am a fan of paper towel, newspaper and/or contractors paper, although some of my snakes I keep on cypress mulch when humidity is an issue.

I recommend (and use) carefresh bedding. It is super absorbent, keeps down the smell after a mess, and is less dusty than many other commrcially available bedding. I have also used bark chips and cypress mulch but prefer the carefresh hands down, even though it is rather expensive.

Paper towels, butchers paper, corrugated wrap, cage liners

For me it depends on the animal's size and time of the year.

Hatchlings - Aspen
Adult - Cypress Mulch except when paired at that time they are on newspaper.

Newspaper is good (and what I use with my balls), but I picked paper towels overall since they're more absorbent and my coral albino boa doesn't look like she's bruised - the ink on the newspapers always gets onto her head since she likes burrowing under her substrate and it freaks me out, haha.

Are cani ships supposed to be sani chips? If so then i use them. If i run out of them ill use newspaper or papertowels. I do keep one of my gals on newspaper permanently bc she loves to tip her water bowl and i dont like wasting so many sani chips lol.

The problem with the poll is that it assumes ppl would use one favorite type of substrate for all kinds of reptiles and that's not the reality of substrate usage.
I use paper towels for ball pythons, but I wouldn't use paper towels for most other reptiles.

Other = Indented Kraft Paper

I use newspaper for all my balls, leos and most of the other reptiles.

OMG towels !! who uses towels?.... and how do u clean those towels?

I use paper towel for my Leopard Gecko and so far have been using Coco Husk for my BP but so far I'm not liking it.

I was assuming that the poll allowed for multiple choices!? I made multiple choices!

In the past I used either aspen bedding, astro-turf or hospital incubator pads (my mom was a nursery nurse so got them free and worked wonders as bedding for the bottom of the Iguana cages super absorbent and easy to ball up and trash). I am about to make the change to shipping paper ( basically newspaper without print.)

I use reptibark

I just switched to a Bioactive Substrate mix (see my thread) so I voted "other". However before that I used Repti-Carpet. In my opinion it is lower maintenance than paper towel and looks better than paper towel. It is also cheaper than buying a substrate such as bark, coir, mulch, etc. and replacing it every month or so. To me the only downfalls to it is that it doesn't give the natural look that some of the substrates listed above do (which shouldn't be a big deal if your a paper towel user) and its not very good when it comes to holding moisture for RH numbers.

Un-printed news paper :D

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Bp's are on paper towels
Rat snakes are on 2-3 inches of aspen

Bogus Paper is what I use. I got no complaints.

I use paper towels because I am very lazy and because it works.

I currently use Aspen Sani-Chips in my tubs, but I will be switching to Corrugated Wrap once my pvc enclosures arrive...

I'm guessing the "Cani chips" option is for sani chips. They work best for me, so aspen sani-chips have got my vote. :gj:

Kraft Bogus Paper for adults. Paper Towels for babies.

I use sani chips for babies. Aspen and / or newspaper for sub to adults.

What about Pine? Didn't see that on there.

I currently use newspaper, but i like Aspen. Aspen is a pain to completly clean, but is better for spot cleaning. Newspaper is great because it so simple to change it out when soiled, even though you must do this more often. Every 2-3 days for me. Like clockwork i can tell when one of my girls is going to poo or pee.

Reptisorb and kraft paper

I use unprinted newspaper for my balls except one she gets cypress since she is in a cage and not in a rack system(because she was my first snake), corn gets aspen, and JCP gets cypress mulch since she's in a Cage also. GTP gets either newspaper or nothing because he/she is so small . Bearded dragon gets a layer of paper towels then has ceramic tiles that cover 3/4th of the cage to keep her belly warm all day and night. would love to keep using cypress mulch but gets too expensive having to buy a bunch of the zoomed forest floor because HD or loses doesn't carry it by me anymore. Might go with aspen once all my unprinted newspaper is gone.

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Originally Posted by Skiploder

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I believe pine and cedar to be dangerous to reptiles. The fumes can hurt them.

Youd be wrong

KD Pine is just fine

Cedar is still bad though

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Maratila

I believe pine and cedar to be dangerous to reptiles. The fumes can hurt them.

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I use Sani Chips for most of my reptiles. The ones that need more humidity I use Eco Earth.

Used to use cypress until we had a mites scare a few months back and switched to newspaper while treating for them. I've since struck with the newspaper because it seems a lot cleaner as I can't miss any mess and its free since my mom gets it delivered every day and gives me stacks and stacks.

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I'm currently using Aspen with a layer of paper towels under it for my new BP. My logic was that I'd be able to easily gather up the paper towel layer by the corners and wrap up the dirty aspen bedding to change it. We'll see how well this method works in a few days when I first try to clean my viv! I'm hoping it will function in the same way as a litter box liner, but it remains to be seen!

I use TierWohl

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Maratila

I believe pine and cedar to be dangerous to reptiles. The fumes can hurt them.

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....and my eight year old daughter believes in the tooth fairy.

Cedar is not recommended. There is nothing wrong with pine.

I use coconut fiber it allows my bp to burrow if she feels like it.

Well that depends.

My GTP I like using bark chips.
My Hognose I like using Eco-Earth so she can burrow.
My BP I like cypress.

So how do I answer? :confusd:

They all have their uses, and this is a more complex question than "which substrate is best for herpetoculture".

My ball pythons and carpet pythons are currently on paper towels. I switch to cypress mulch in the winter to help boost humidity a little.

My blood python is always on cypress mulch.

My western hoggies love Care Fresh pet store bedding, essentially a paper product.

I use ABG mix in my planted terrariums/vivariums/paludariums.

I like long fiber sphagnum moss for my lay boxes.

I like coconut fiber for many uses, but don't currently use it.
I like aspen and sani as well, and find that it and Care Fresh serve the same purposes for me. A bag of Care Fresh lasts me longer, however.

I love ASPEN for some reason ..... also paper towels for a easy clean up....

I'm gonna go ahead and vouch for kiln dried pine. My snakes have been on it for at least a month and i haven't had any problems at all. And I hate the smell of aspen and how big the shavings are.

I know this isn't a question thread, but, to not post an unnecessary thread, how often do you change out cypress mulch/coconut husk, or any other bedding? Every week or do you just spot check and change every month?

I spot clean every day and change everything once a month or so.

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Originally Posted by Andrew21

I'm gonna go ahead and vouch for kiln dried pine. My snakes have been on it for at least a month and i haven't had any problems at all. And I hate the smell of aspen and how big the shavings are.

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What about shredded aspen?

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

What about shredded aspen?

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Yeah, I should have clearified. The only aspen that I consider buying(cause the small bags of shredded aspen are too expensive) has big shavings. I'm sure shredded aspen would be just as good as pine, except the cost is horrible and again, I don't like the smell. I can get a big bag of pine for 6 bucks, or a big bag of aspen for 17. (I also can't get aspen locally)

I also use pine for my mice. It is way more convenient now because I just have a trash can full of pine in my room, instead of that, and aspen.

Coco husk for me, easy to clean, cheaper than others for a big bag, has no odor, keeps the humidity at a good level with only moistening every few days.

I've been using cypress mulch because humidity issues in my display tank and so I just put it in the tubs as well. But I can these big paper towels at work and I'm thinking of putting them in my tubs.

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